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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Those Nasty Questions

There are a lot things that a recruiter needs to know about your (the candidate) situation in order to do their job well. I could probably think of a 100 things but I won't list them all now in order to prevent your early unscheduled nap. A lot of the things we ask help us assess urgency. Like most decisions, urgency is one of the things that drive the timeline of a decision.

I know that most people who read this will change jobs in the next 10 years. My clients who hire me to find qualified candidate in a position now to make a move are not interested in candidates interested in making a move in 10 years or even 2 years. We are looking for people who are in a position now to make a move. In most cases, just having an interest is not going to be enough. As a result, all I can do or any recruiter can do is probe by way of asking questions to make sure that no one gets their time wasted in the process of interviewing. Time is one of those things that no matter what you do, you can't get back if you lose it.

So, even though some of the questions that you get asked may seem inappropriate, if you are dealing with a good recruiter, those questions are important. I'm going to give you an example of a real call that took place yesterday between me and a candidate who contacted me about a new opportunity.

The candidate worked at AMD and I am aware of the AMD layoffs that took place there. I asked the candidate if he was affected by the layoffs. He became irate and questioned why this was important. I explained it is important for me to know because I need to know as much as I can in order to do my job which is to ensure that if an offer gets generated, it's an acceptable offer and it gets accepted. So I asked again a little differently. I asked if he was currently employed and if so, is there a time line on that employment. Again, the candidate got very agitated and questioned why at this point what I was asking was important. I knew right away, this relationship was not going to go anywhere and we both ended the call.

Changing jobs is not easy, I am sure it is one of the most challenging situations right up there with death, taxes and divorce. Thing is though, there are things a recruiter needs to know in order to ensure everything works out for the best. I would advise you to answer these questions, it will go a long way and if things work out, you get a new job with a company you like and ideally it's a position that will provide an enhanced level of challenge, responsibility, and money. It all sounds good right? As for me, Recruiting can be a thankless job. I love it thought. Have a great day.